Just in Tokyo: Page 20

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20 - Just In Tokyo

New York, there would be Africans, Arabs, Hassidm, Russians,
people from all over the world jostling for that seat near the door.

So when you do see a foreigner it can feel like a bit of an event.
Whether or not you want to make contact, I urge you to smile; there
can be some lonely moments around Tokyo and it's nice to keep
things peaceable between folks

Of course that foreigner may be a longtime resident sizing you up as
a greenhorn. Or a fellow traveller who speaks less Japanese than
you do. Either way, the other folks visiting Japan likely have a story to
share; they're probably as weird as you are.

Subterranean Commerce

The subway stations in Tokyo are integrated with stores, such that
you might emerge from your cross-city train ride, sweaty and con-
fused, in a giant, well-lit, sweet smelling mall basement food court.

Tokyo itself is saturated with advertising, as much as any large city
except things are more closely packed. And there's more lights and
large public advertising TVs. The subways are no different, except
that you're a more captive audience. Use the kwik katakana guide
on page 32 to amuse yourself with sounding out supposedly English
lanaguage words!

Riding the subways affords opportunities to peek over the shoulders
of Japanese people reading comic books and sports papers with
some salacious and straightforward content. And you can see what
people are doing with their mobile phones; sometimes Galaga,
sometimes Breakout, mostly reading and writing short mail.

Yamanote Line

The Yamanote is a great line for seeing Tokyo, it runs an elevated
loop around the city. It's not the fastest way around town, but it's the
only train that will take you from Ueno to Ikebukuro to Shinjuku to
Harajuku to Shibuya to Ebisu to Yurakucho near Ginza. It's the
tourist's line for Tokyo. Japan Railways runs the Yamanote line, and
they sell something called the "Suica" a thin card with a radio fre-
quency transmitter in it. So what? So you can stick this card in your
wallet and just swipe your wallet over the ticket machine. The
money is deducted from the running total you've deposited on the
card. It feels like magic each and every swipe.